Three FluffShots
by Kaira Sakamoto
Summary: Three fluffy one-shots involving the Tactician and Erk from FE7. This is for my best friend, the 'hey-why-don't-you-write-a-book' friend. I hope everyone else enjoys it.
1. You Won't Have To Wait Long

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or, for that matter, the tactician in this fluff-shot. The tactician, Melody, belongs to my 'hey-why-don't-you-write-a-book' friend, and I'm just writing this for her._

**A Fluff-Shot**

_**You Won't Have to Wait Long**_

* * *

Erk didn't really understand her sometimes; she was so kind, and yet she was so different. The sage knew that he could watch her for hours on end, and he _still_ wouldn't understand anything about her.

How would he know this? Because he _did_ watch her for hours on end as she meandered about the campsite, worrying and fussing over the occupants. It was a wonder why he hadn't been caught yet (though his pretending to read the book in his lap _did_ seem to be a very convincing disguise).

Today was no different from the rest of the group's travels. She strolled around the camp in her normal routine, asking around and checking to see if they had enough supplies. He could tell that they were running low, because she bit her lip often when something was wrong, and that was what she was doing that the moment.

She looked up, and he was suddenly aware of how bright her green eyes were, of how they shined with her curiosity. Immediately, he dropped his gaze back down to his book, seeing the text but not really reading it. His cheeks burned as the blood rushed to them.

"Hi, Erk," greeted the indigo-haired girl. Twitching, the young man lifted his head, pretending to just notice her standing in front of him.

"Hello, Melody," he replied in what he hoped was a composed tone. He frowned, because he noticed that she was biting her lip. "Is something wrong, Melody?" he questioned, causing her to lift her eyes to meet his.

"I — what makes you say that there's something wrong?" she asked.

"You're biting your lip. You always do that when you're worried about something," he answered. He quickly regretted it, because she looked surprised, almost shocked, at his statement.

"I do? But…how would you …how would you know something like that?"

"I thought you were supposed to be observant, m'lady," he mused with a ghost of a smile. "After all, you _are_ our tactician."

Melody's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "W-Well, yes, Erk, but…" She shook her head. "Anyways, I was just going to ask what you were reading."

"Just an Elfire tome," the sage replied with another slight smile. "So that I don't have to rely so much on the tome if it's destroyed."

The green-eyed girl sat down beside him, tilting her head at him. "I thought you always have to rely on the tome when you do magic."

Erk bit his lip in thought.

"If you don't want to answer that, you don't have to, Erk," Melody quickly added.

"No, no," he interrupted her. "I'm just thinking about how to go about explaining this."

"Well…I can wait as long as you want," she said softly.

For a moment, the sage was sure that his heart had skipped a beat. He looked up in surprise to see that the tactician wasn't looking at him. Her cheeks were pink, and she was biting her lip.

Unsure, Erk reached out and took the girl's hand. She snapped her head to glance at him, and he smiled. "You won't have to wait long for an explanation, Melody."

Melody's green eyes shined brilliantly, and she bit her lip again, but it seemed to keep herself from smiling. It showed through, though, because Erk could see it just below the surface. "Really?"

"I promise that you won't have to."

They held hands for the rest of the day.

* * *

_I rather liked this. The funny thing is that I read this to my friend over the phone, and she practically burst my eardrums apart. In the background, I could hear our other friend, Ashley, laughing._

_Well, I' m just glad she enjoyed it._


	2. Butterfly Kisses

_Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem or the tactician in this fluff-shot. The tactician, Melody, belongs to my 'hey-why-don't-you-write-a-book' friend._

**A Fluff-Shot**

_**Butterfly Kisses**_

* * *

Snow was falling, and the air was chilly. Everyone was huddled around the three meager campfires, shivering together, rubbing hands, sitting as close to each other as they possibly could. Even Sain, who would usually take advantage of these circumstances, was too cold to care about anything but keeping warm.

An icy chill shuddered down Erk's spine once again, and he breathed into his hands, rubbing them together, hoping that the friction would spark some heat in his numb fingers. His ears felt just as cold, and he was sure that his toes were coming apart from the rest of his feet. The sage wouldn't be surprised if he found blood inside his boots.

A body snuggled up next to him, a cold cheek pressing to his thinly clothed arm. He looked down as another shiver wracked his spine to see a head of indigo hair trembling beside him. It was Melody, and she was just as freezing as him.

"M-Melody?" he questioned, gently using a gloved finger to lift her face up. His breath came out as puffs of heat, and she seemed to relax as those heated little blooms of haze spread across her face.

She bit her trembling lip, "Yes, Erk?"

He pulled her to him, knowing that he was slightly warmer than her, and shivered when she came into contact with him. His temperature lowered, but he was satisfied when it didn't drop drastically. "Stay here…we can keep each other warm." At least, he hoped they could.

The girl nodded vigorously.

They stayed like that for a long time and, like he had hoped, their temperature didn't drop any more than it had before. Erk turned to the fire before the two, and lifted his hand, muttering the incantation for Fire under his breath. He felt the essence of the flame wilt under the intrusion of his magic, before it burst and grew larger again. Relieved, the sage relaxed, and looked down at his tactician.

Melody was staring into the fire, and he tilted his head, watching the meager light of the flames splash across her features, softening them and making them glow. His heart was spluttering in his chest, beating frantically. He was aware that he was suddenly much warmer than he had been before.

"…Erk?" she questioned, her voice soft.

"Hm?" The young man leaned his head down to hear her better. She lifted her head, and then he was staring into her eyes; those beautiful, inquisitive green eyes. Their faces were so close that he could feel her eyelashes brushing against his cheeks. "What is it?"

Melody bit her lip. "You still haven't explained it to me..."

His heart accelerated into a quick, steady rhythm. He smiled and lifted one hand, using it to free her lip from under her abusive care. "I'd rather teach you about butterfly kisses, Melody."

And then he leaned closer, and carefully, lightly, brushed his lips against hers.

All the cold vanished from their thoughts as the snow fell about them.

* * *

_Like all the rest of my fluff-shots (fluffy one-shots), I listened to music. The only thing that my friend actually put up before I started writing was that she wanted the title to be 'Butterfly Kisses,' and that inspired this idea. Note that, while I wrote this, the song she always connected to snow fall was playing in the background from my iPod._

_I have to admit that my friend sometimes influences me._


	3. Broken Promise

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or the tactician in this fluff-shot. The tactician, Melody, belongs to my 'hey-why-don't-you-write-a-book' friend._

**A Fluff-Shot**

_**Broken Promise**_

* * *

"Melody!"

The battle scene was chaotic and bloody. Screams echoed in his ears as he recklessly weaved his way through the battleground. He held his arm with one hand, stemming the flow of blood that stained his skin. His heart hammered in his chest, pounding against his rib cage as his lungs struggled to draw in more oxygen.

"Melody!" he cried out again, his voice hoarse and cracked. The sage couldn't find her; he could hardly see in front of him.

"Erk…?"

The young man spun around, frantically tossing his head, eyes searching...until he found her, lying on her side, the blood pooling around her, escaping from the wound at her side. She was shaking, and as he rushed to her side, slipping on the enemy's blood, he could see the tears in her eyes.

"Melody, hold on — it'll be all right," he quickly said as he assessed her wounds. He grabbed the Heal staff that he had tied to the waistband of his pants, and pressed the small orb at its tip to the slice in her flesh. Erk closed his eyes and concentrated, picturing her wound knitting itself together, her skin realigning with itself. When he opened his eyes and checked her injury, he smiled in relief, seeing that the blood had stopped and that the wound had closed.

He touched her cheek gently, his heart pounding even as he heard screams and the clashing of metal to metal around the both of them. "You're all right, Melody, you're all right," he breathed.

There was a roar from behind him. He spun around and braced himself, muttering the Elfire spell he had memorized, because the enemy running toward him was a brigand with a sharp-looking steel axe. Erk glanced at his tactician behind him, and knew that if he dodged, she would be hurt, instead.

He looked up just as the axe swung down, and pain registered in his mind, searing up and down his already-injured arm. He waved his right arm, and the heavy feeling of the Elfire's flame charred the man to bloody ashes.

All sound stopped as the last bandit's scream died out.

Coming down from his adrenaline high, Erk pressed his palm to his own wound and turned to the indigo-haired girl behind him. She was still crying, but she was trying to hold back the tears as futilely as he tried to stop his arm from bleeding. "Melody, stop crying," he murmured softly, giving her a small smile. "We're safe."

Behind her, he could see Serra stepping over deceased bodies and making her way towards them. In both of her hands, she held a single Heal staff as if it were a club.

"Erk…but I…Erk, you got hurt…" she whimpered, biting her lip like she always did.

"Melody, I'm fine."

And that was when he heard the panicked voices of his comrades, and his senses were put into high alert. Behind Melody, he saw Serra's expression change from calm to absolute horror, staring at something behind him.

"No!" Melody screamed.

Erk twisted around just in time to see the arrow flying his way, but not in time to stop it from lodging itself deep within his chest. The impact sent him stumbling back a few steps as the pain flashed through him. All at once, he was aware that something was bubbling up his throat, and that he couldn't breathe anymore. His legs gave out from underneath him, and he could feel blood drip out from between his lips.

He was dieing.

"Erk!" Melody cried as new tears flowed anew, the salty rivers dripping onto his cheeks as she held him. He hated seeing that look on her face, but his vision was blurring, and his mind was shutting down. Erk had one last thought run through his mind, before everything went black and his body went limp.

_I promised you that you wouldn't have to wait long…but I guess you'll have to wait forever._

* * *

_With this angst-shot, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Oh, no, it's not like I wish I didn't write it; that's quite the opposite. But the sad part of it all is that I can see this happening as if I were watching a movie connected to my retinas. It repeats until I get the entire scene written down, and then it's imprinted. Sometimes, this can be really helpful._

_But sometimes, like now, it can really hurt._


End file.
